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Saturday, 5 September 2015

Over the last couple of months I have been on a blanket journey. Not only did I complete my rainbow star stitch baby blanket but, as my lovely Facebook followers will know, I have also been making a granny square blanket for my sofa.

Why granny square? Granny squares are such a classic crochet design, I always advise it of being the best way to learn crochet and I have embarked on many 'granny' journeys over the years. I was taught to crochet when I was about 8 or 9 years old by my super talented mother and a giant granny square blanket was the first thing I ever made. Unfortunately I do not still have it as it was 'borrowed' on what transpired to be a permanent basis by my brother and has since passed down to my lovely nephews, which I do not mind at all! I do however, still have the second blanket I ever made and this was a granny square patch blanket.

It is a bit beaten, battered and faded (well it is over 25 years old!) but I still love it and use it. So remembering the joy of making and joining those little patches when I was a child gave me inspiration when planning my next blanket project. I had bought these lovely cushions for our sofa's, which did mean the purply blanket that adorned the large sofa no longer matched. Not having a throw on your sofa is not an option for a crochet addict so the planning began. First I had to choose a colour palette. So I went through my little box of yarn pegs and picked out colours to match the cushions in my staple 'go to' yarn of Stylecraft Special DK.

The colours I plumped for were Lime, Sunflower, Gold, Apricot, Raspberry, Sage, Petrol, Mocha and Parchment.

Next I needed to think of the style of granny square. I wanted to do something really simple that you could whip up quickly without thinking about and that didn't need blocking. So the design I decided on is the most basic granny I think you can get, using 3 different colours and every one finished in a round of Parchment.

The simple pattern is as follows: -
Using a 4.5mm hook with yarn A make a magic ring.

Round 4 - Change to yarn C, repeat as per Round 3, working an extra 3 treble crochet on each side into the additional space between corners, slip stitch into 3rd chain of beginning 3 chain

Round 5 - Change to yarn D, repeat as per Round 4, working an extra 3 treble crochet on each side into the additional space between corners, slip stitch into 3rd chain of beginning 3 chain.

Fasten off and sew in ends

I decided the blanket would be 12 squares by 12 squares so I had a whopping 144 squares to be made

About 20 squares in, I felt there was something missing with the colour palette, there were more darker, richer colours but only a few pale shades, so I added Sherbert to the mix

In making the squares there was no pattern or plan, I just sat and changed colour randomly. This does mean there is a risk there will be more than one patch of the same, and I know there is at least 1 pair in there, but I have studied the finished blanket and I can't find it!

So once all the patches are complete, the next job is to join them together. The method I opted for was to crochet them together using a double crochet stitch and Parchment

My method for this is to crochet all the strips one way and then the other. Joining is probably my favourite part of blanket making as it is when you finally see your creation coming together. So the method to use for this is to hold 2 squares together, back to back, and then crochet them together along the top back loops of the final edge of both squares. Do not fasten off the yarn at the end, pick up the next two squares and continue crocheting.

So the next step after all 144 patches have been joined is to make the edging. For this I wanted to continue in the granny theme, so firstly I edged in double crochet in Parchment and then just used basic granny stitches for the next five rounds. 1 Parchment, then Lime, Parchment again, then Apricot and finally Parchment. For the first round of this (which is worked into double crochet) just miss 2 stitches between each 3 stitch cluster.

There is no particular design reason as to why I selected Lime and Apricot, they were the two yarns I had the most leftover! This is the beauty of these sorts of projects, you can use them as stash busters and a great way to use up yarn (so you can buy more!)

The final edging round was worked in treble crochet and slip stitches to give a fan effect. So to work this, you would use 1 treble crochet into the top of the first stitch in the 3 stitch cluster, 2 treble crochet into the second and 1 treble crochet into the third. Slip stitch into the space between the 3 stitch clusters and then repeat all the way round.

So with the patches joined and the edging complete, next is the unenviable task of sewing in the ends.

To be honest I don't actually mind this part at all, the key is to try and do as much during the project so you don't have much to do at the end, when you are itching to get it finished!

So that makes my blanket complete, and now for the Ta Da moment.......

I love it, it has just the right mix of colour and has been an enjoyable project to complete

Also, because I had some yarn left over I made a cushion cover to match! I hope to share the pattern for this at some point, here on my blog

So, if you are wondering how the blanket and cushion look on my sofa with my bird cushions....

There we go! I am very happy with the result! So onto my next project, because I do have 2 sofa's in my living room you know......

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About Me

My name is Kelly, I am a crochet addict and this is my blog!
I am a married mum of a gorgeous little boy and I live in beautiful Norfolk, UK.
I have crocheted ever since I was a little girl and it kind of takes over my life! This blog is to share my projects, patterns and musings, I hope you enjoy!
If you are interested in buying any of my handmade goods, please visit my Etsy page www.etsy.com/uk/shop/lovedotty
If you would like to contact me please email lovedotty.crochet@gmail.com